1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of splicing two paper webs together. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for effecting a so-called saleable splice between the trailing edge of the trailing portion of a paper web expiring from a reel of paper onto the leading edge of a leading portion of a new reel of paper. Still more particularly, this invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for effecting a double-sided tape splice by cross-cutting trailing and leading portions of successive paper webs in paper winder apparatus to produce corresponding trailing and leading edges which are held in adjacency while opposed adhesive tapes are applied to, and pressed against, each side.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The art of splicing paper webs, such as those produced by papermaking machines in large diameter wound web rolls, commonly referred to as reels, is evolving rapidly, primarily due to the increasing machine speeds required to be competitive. These large diameter wound web rolls, or reels, are produced successively after being wound up in apparatus at the end of a papermaking machine, which apparatus is also called a reel. Due to sheet breaks which occur from time to time in the paper manufacturing process, the long strips of paper web are quickly, but often somewhat crudely, glued together in order to permit the reel being wound to achieve its desired diameter of five or six feet, or larger.
These reels are then rotatably mounted successively in re-reeling, or winding, apparatus where the reels are rewound and the splices are made better to produce a uniform diameter finished wound web roll which is shipped to the ultimate user, such as a newspaper or printing company. While the ultimate reel is a single strip of paper web wound to the desired diameter, such perfection, while it is more closely attained than in the past, has not yet been achieved. Further, while it has been fairly easy to effect a splice between shorter strips of paper web, the ultimate splice is one known in the industry as a "saleable splice." That is, the splice is so good that a reel containing such a splice is acceptable to the customer and does not have to be sold at a discount.
Prior wet paper web splicing concepts are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,169,082; 5,288,034; 5,279,471; and 5,259,910.
Typical of prior concepts for effecting web splices are apparatus which splice the off-going and on-coming webs together by overlapping the webs and providing either glue or double-faced adhesive tape between the webs, and then pressing the webs together to make the splice. While such splices can be made relatively quickly and adequately function to hold the spliced webs together, they also produce an unattractive splice which has loose ends on both the upper and lower sides of the spliced web. Further, the splice takes up considerable distance in the machine direction, so the paper product extending in both the upstream and downstream directions along the spliced web is not saleable and must be removed in subsequent processing, either at the paper mill or the customer.